


Take Me Home

by eviltrains



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Loki & Tony Stark Friendship, Loki (Marvel) Has Issues, Memory Loss, Odin (Marvel)'s Bad Parenting, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony has no idea what he's doing, Tony-centric, how do you even teach someone to be an adult human anyway, takes place after Avengers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-04
Updated: 2018-07-08
Packaged: 2019-05-02 00:18:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14532555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eviltrains/pseuds/eviltrains
Summary: As punishment for his crimes against Asgard, Loki is banished and sent to earth as a mortal. His punishment includes the erasure of his memories of the incidents. However, something goes wrong, and Loki loses all his memories, including his own knowledge of who he is. Tony Stark finds himself teaching the former demigod how to be a functioning human.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, peeps!
> 
> So this is something I thought of not too long ago, but seeing as how I was busy finishing university, I had no time to work on it. But now that I'm done school and working full-time, I have all the time in the world! Well, outside of work and sleep, but things are a little different when you don't have to think about your work outside of actual work hours, unlike school where that's a constant... :/
> 
> Anyways, this is the first fic I'm actually going to try to write as I go along... I used to write when I was younger, but I haven't done so regularly in probably at least 8-9 years now, so please excuse any plot/continuity/grammar errors. :P
> 
> This takes place sometime after Thor, but probably before Avengers. I haven't really thought that through yet and it's a bit open ended so far, so hopefully I'll figure that one out within a couple chapters or so.
> 
> Anywho... enjoy! :)

Chapter 1

Tony Stark did not consider himself to be a particularly forgiving man.

Sure, he sometimes put up with way more bullshit than he should. But that didn’t mean all was forgiven and forgotten. No, quite the opposite. He kept a mental note of others’ deception and lies and kept the details in mind every time he had to interact with them again.

Of course, he mused as he turned the page of the US Weekly issue he was skimming through (super vapid, but he occasionally found what the tabloids had to say about him amusing, and while hospital reading choices were apparently _seriously_ lacking even in Stark Tower, right now it was better than picking up his phone and being forced to go through his nightmare of an email inbox), there was always an exception to every rule. More specifically, an exception that could be considered stranger than fiction, or maybe the universe was just choosing to punish Tony and then laugh in his face.

He was abruptly pulled out of his thoughts to the sound of a quiet groan somewhere next to him. He flipped the magazine shut and looked over at the source of the sound.

In the hospital bed next to him, a gaunt, hollow-eyed man with long black hair was struggling to sit up.

“Hey, Loki,” Tony said softly.

Loki looked around the room, startled when Tony spoke. When he spotted Tony, he abruptly paused, and, with a look of complete bewilderment in his eyes, asked hoarsely, “Wh…Where am I?”

“You’re in a private room on the medical floors of Stark Tower,” Tony answered cautiously. “You were brought here to heal, um… after your… I guess surgery? Truth be told, I’m not really sure how to describe what they did to you.”

Loki just stared at him blankly. “I’m sorry… what are you talking about?”

“Um… right. Your brother told me that…” Tony wasn’t sure how to say it. “You wouldn’t know what I was talking about. Sorry.”

“My… brother?” Loki asked slowly, his voice blank with confusion.

“Yeah, you know, Thor? Big cheery guy, carries around a hammer, beautiful golden locks? No?” Loki was still giving him that look, the one that plainly said, _I have no idea who you’re talking about._

“I have no idea who you’re talking about,” Loki said flatly. Tony was starting to get a real bad feeling about all of this.

“Okay, well… what about your dad? Or your mom? You… you know them, right?” Tony guessed.

Again with the blank stare. Okay.

“All right, let’s try this another way. What do you remember?” Tony asked.

Loki appeared to be deep in thought for a moment, but then he started looking progressively more distressed. “…Nothing,” he said finally.

“Wait, _nothing_? Like, for real?” Tony asked, unable to keep the incredulity fully out of his voice.

“Do I need to say it twice? _Nothing_ , as in, I have no idea where I am, or who you are, or even who I am,” Loki said, his voice suddenly growing louder and more panicked. “I don’t even know my own name!”

Oh, this was bad. Thor had told him that he was only supposed to have his memories of the last few years erased, up to his initial betrayal of Asgard. Obviously, Tony quickly realized, whatever they had done to him had been a lot more severe than what he’d been told.

“Well, for starters, your name is Loki Odinson,” Tony said. “I’m Tony Stark, and again, like I said before, this building is called Stark Tower, on the planet Earth. I guess where you’re from, you call it Midgard. I’m… going to assume that you don’t remember where you’re from.” Loki shook his head. “Right, well, that’s great. I’ve never dealt with this before, so I don’t even know where to start.”

“How about by telling me what this is?” Loki asked, an edge of panic to his voice as he held up his hand. Tony blinked, not sure what he was talking about, then it became obvious as he noticed Loki lightly tugging at the IV line in his arm.

“Don’t pull those out, they’re there to help you,” Tony said quickly. Loki stopped what he was doing to look up at Tony. “Yeah, um… that’s called an intravenous line, and it’s there to send nutrients to your body and also to make sure that you stay hydrated. Wouldn’t want you dying of malnutrition in a hospital,” he joked.

Loki nodded slowly. “Okay,” was all he said, clearly digesting the information. “So… try to explain in a way that makes sense to me… why am I here? You mentioned that the intravenous line is meant to help me… Why did I need help?”

Tony just sighed. _Oh boy._ What did you even tell someone that had lost all his memories? Especially when the events leading up to this moment would likely be quite a shock for anyone to hear. To be fair, right now Loki would probably believe anything, because at least it was some kind of explanation.

“Okay,” he started. “Basically, and don’t laugh, but you used to be a basically immortal demigod from this place called Asgard, and you committed a bunch of crimes, so the ones in charge of your trial decided that the best punishment would be erasing your memories of the crimes and a few of the years leading up to them, and then stripping you of your immortal status and sending you here, to Earth, where basically everyone is a mortal, to have you learn a lesson or something, I guess. I don’t know, seems dumb to me, presumably when you woke up you’d have more questions than answers and just end up going mad again, but—wait, sorry, not relevant. Anyway, the process to turn you from immortal to mortal, and taking your memories, is supposed to be quite damaging to your body, so they suggested you stay in a hospital for some time upon your arrival here. So since then, you’ve been in a medically-induced coma to recover from that.” Tony paused, not sure how what to say next.

“Coma?” Loki asked, his eyes narrowing.

“Yeah, it’s like a long, deep sleep, basically. Sometimes if people are severely injured, it’s deemed better for the health of the patient to force their body to rest so they can heal faster,” Tony explained.

“So how long was I… asleep… for?” Loki asked, looking like he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to know the answer.

“It’s been about three months,” Tony said. “I guess the whole mortality and memory deleting thing really took a lot out of you. The doctors just cleared you to come out of the coma last week, although after that you stayed asleep for a few more days.”

“…I see,” was all Loki said. “Clearly something went wrong, though.”

His words surprised Tony, who startled slightly. When he collected himself, he said, “Yeah, good catch. I have a feeling that you weren’t supposed to lose _all_ your memories. Thor didn’t tell me that when he dropped you off here.”

“Maybe he didn’t know,” Loki offered.

“Yeah, maybe.” Tony’s gaze drifted to the window at the other side of the room. Had Thor been alerted that his brother had woken up? He’d mentioned that Heimdall, some sort of intergalactic guard dude, would be keeping watch, but maybe he wouldn’t notice right away.

“So… what happens now that I’m awake?” Loki asked.

“Well, I hadn’t quite thought that far ahead yet,” Tony admitted. “The original plan was for you to stay on Earth and learn to live as a human… but I’m not sure if that changes now that we know you no longer have any of your memories.”

“I guess it depends on if I can ever get the memories back,” Loki said thoughtfully.

“Yeah, but is that even possible? I don’t know how Asgardian… magic or whatever works.” At that moment, Tony’s phone beeped. He glanced down at it to see a text from JARVIS alerting him that Thor was in the medical wing of the Tower. “Sorry, if you’ll excuse me for just a minute, your brother is here. I’ll go explain the situation to him and then bring him in and see if he has some answers for us.” He got up and jogged out of the room. Hopefully he could stop Thor from barging in before he could explain what was going on.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki meets Thor, and they discuss the implications of his condition.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all! Sorry I didn't update sooner... I picked up my first foster cat this week, and he's been a handful! He has an upper respiratory infection, and is also a very sociable and needy cat, so outside of work he's been taking up a lot of my time. He's chilled out now though, somewhat anyway, so I can sit at my computer and write without hearing constant meowing. xD
> 
> Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter! This one is mostly just dialogue again, but things should start happening soon.

Chapter 2

Tony heard Thor before he saw him.

“Where is my brother?!” Tony rounded the corner to see him towering over one of the desk staff outside the elevator.

“Thor!” Tony called out. Thor’s head snapped around immediately, his face breaking out into a wide smile.

“Tony Stark!” he greeted Tony. “How’s my brother?”

“Uh, yeah, about that – we gotta talk about that, actually, before you can see him, so… why don’t we sit down somewhere and chat?” Tony suggested.

Thor’s smile gave way to a frown as Tony was speaking. “Is my brother alright?” he asked, concern colouring his tone.

“Yeah, he’s fine, but there’s something you need to know before you can see him, is all,” Tony said, hoping that reassured Thor.

Thor’s frown deepened, but he nodded. “Alright. Where shall we sit?”

“There’s a small lounge down the hall. It should be empty now. Follow me,” Tony offered, walking the opposite way he had come. There was another lounge closer to Loki’s room, but he didn’t want to chance Loki overhearing their conversation somehow.

When they were settled into the comfy lounge chairs, Thor immediately asked, “So… what can you tell me about my brother?” There was a look on his face like he expected the worst.

“Well, first of all, as you know, he’s obviously not dead and he’s also not too horribly injured,” Tony started. “Nothing outright bad has happened to him, but… there is something a little weird, and I figured that I should tell you before you saw him: he’s lost all his memories.”

“Well… that’s what was supposed to happen,” Thor said. “All his memories of the Chitauri invasion and his crimes against Asgard were to be erased, which essentially meant the removal of the past several years.”

“Yeah, well… that’s not what happened. When I say he’s lost all his memories, I’m not kidding. I literally mean he’s lost _all_ his memories. Didn’t even know his own name.” Tony watched Thor’s expression carefully.

“I’m gathering that you don’t think he’d know me either,” Thor said uncertainly.

“Correct,” Tony said, watching disappointment flicker across Thor’s features before it disappeared into thoughtfulness. “I asked him if he knew you and he didn’t even know that he had a brother.”

“I need to see him,” Thor said, standing up abruptly.

“Whoa there, big guy. Of course you can see him, I just wanted to make sure you didn’t barge in there with false expectations,” Tony explained quickly, standing up as well. “Here, I’ll lead the way.”

When they got to his room, Loki was sitting up in the bed, staring out the window. Tony knocked on the door frame a couple times, and Loki looked up.

“Hey, Loki,” Tony greeted him, walking into the room in front of Thor. “How are you doing? Oh, I brought Thor. Loki, Thor. Thor… you already know your brother.”

“Loki, I…” Thor stepped forward, extending a hand towards his brother, then stopped and shook his head. “I… I don’t know what to say.”

Loki smiled faintly. “It’s fine,” he said uncertainly. “I don’t know what to say either. As far as I know, this is the first time I’ve ever seen you.”

Thor chuckled. “That does put a damper on things, doesn’t it,” he remarked drily.

Tony watched the exchange unfolding in front of him apprehensively. From what he last knew, Thor and Loki hadn’t been on the best of terms, but there was no animosity in Loki’s expression or body language. It was clear that he really had no idea who his brother was. While Loki was the god of lies and all that, he did seem genuine, and Tony figured that Thor would know a way to test for sure.

“Yes,” Loki agreed. “So, I hear I’m not that great a person.”

Thor’s smile froze on his face, and he turned to Tony. “Apologies… but, what do you mean by that?”

“Uhh… first of all, he asked me what was going on, so I told him a very abbreviated summary of the last few years and what happened and why he forgot everything, and, well, let’s face it here; previously, he _wasn’t_ that great of a person,” Tony defended himself.

Thor sighed. “You have committed some heinous deeds, yes,” he acquiesced. “That does _not_ —” and he glared at Tony here “—mean that you are a bad person.”

“Am I even the same person, though?” Loki wondered. “I mean, presumably I had motivations for acting the way I did, and surely those motivations must have come from _somewhere_. I don’t have any memory of those experiences now, though… Maybe if I did, I’d understand.”

“Hmm…” Thor said thoughtfully. “I should return to Asgard. I can ask the healers there to look at your old memories and see if they can figure out what is going on. I will also need to verify your claims, not because I don’t believe you, but because others might not.”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” Tony said. “Some of our politicians weren’t exactly thrilled by this either, so maybe with proof of him literally losing all his memories they’ll back down.” Of course, Tony knew it wasn’t exactly that easy, but a man could dream.

“I will leave at once,” Thor said. “Eir was the head healer in Loki’s case, so I’ll go to her first for answers. Despite his transgressions, Eir still thought highly of Loki, so if anyone can help, it is her.”

“Hey, I’m still here, you know,” Loki quipped.

Thor looked at him, startled, then laughed. “Yes, that’s true,” he agreed. “Loki, I…” He reached out a hand to Loki’s shoulder while he collected his thoughts. “I know you don’t remember me, and I know that… before… you were not very fond of me, but you are my brother and I will always love you. Always remember that.” He was surprisingly solemn, and Loki looked as though he didn’t know how to react.

“Um… thank you,” Loki said quietly. “For that, and also for helping me. If it is true that I did commit some heinous acts, you would be well within your rights to hate me.”

“No, never,” Thor said vehemently. “Don’t let yourself even entertain the thought. Anyhow, I shall take my leave, and I hope to be back soon with answers.”

“All right, Thor, we’ll see you soon.” Tony spoke up. “I’ll take good care of your brother while you’re away.” Loki rolled his eyes, and Thor chuckled.

“I don’t doubt it,” he said, before striding out of the room.

Loki watched him go, then looked up at Tony. “So… that’s my brother, huh?”

“Yep,” Tony said.

“We’re nothing alike,” Loki said.

“Yeah… You were adopted,” Tony admitted. “The story behind that isn’t all that pleasant either. In fact, from what I can gather from what Thor told me, finding out the truth behind the circumstances of your birth kind of drove you mad. That madness is what drove you to crime, essentially.”

“Wow,” Loki said, shaking his head. “For someone who is just hearing about all this, it is a _lot_ to take in.”

“Yeah… sorry about that, pal,” Tony said, hoping he sounded apologetic.

“It’s fine… It isn’t your fault.”

“I guess not,” Tony agreed. “But I do wonder what’s going to happen if you get your memories back. Since you’ve had this experience, and you will remember losing your memories, I wonder if you’ll, like… go back to being your old self.”

“Probably not,” Loki said thoughtfully, “unless getting my memories back completely erases this whole thing from my mind.”

“I wonder how much of your personality has to do with the memories. Presumably, crazy-Loki is contained within those memories… because obviously those crimes you committed didn’t occur in a vacuum. _Something_ , like maybe years-long emotional neglect, contributed to you basically falling straight off the deep end the second you learned of your true heritage,” Tony suggested. “So maybe you’re like a completely different person without the memories, and the Loki that is held within the memories isn’t actually this you that’s sitting in front of me right now. But then that raises the ethics of keeping someone’s entire consciousness in a bottle…” Of course, Tony had no idea how the whole memory-holding process actually worked, but it was a little disturbing to think about if it were true. If this Loki was basically a clean slate, what about the Loki that had been removed? Was he still alive somewhere, maybe dreaming? What were the ethical implications of just removing that consciousness and leaving it contained somewhere indefinitely?

Loki looked disturbed. “I don’t really want to think about it right now, to be honest,” he admitted.

“Yeah, me neither. This is heavy stuff,” Tony agreed. “Let’s just wait for Thor to get back and see what he says.”

Tony hoped they wouldn’t have to wait long.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Those are some heavy thoughts that Tony's having there! I wonder how much of his predictions will turn out to be true...? ;)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony talks to Pepper. Loki learns about apples.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh, I have really been wanting to update faster, but I went to my parents' house on the weekend and although I intended to write, I forgot to sync my desktop and Google Drive, so I didn't have all my writing available, then on Tuesday I got home and discovered my hamster missing, picked my foster cat back up from the SPCA, found the hamster, got him safe in his cage, went to work, left early due to exhaustion... Then yesterday I was still pretty tired and had to do some errands before work... etc etc etc. Anyway, I decided to finish off the chapter this morning and now here we are. Things are finally starting to happen! (Albeit very slowly, still.)
> 
> Also - tags have been updated.

Chapter 3

Tony got Loki set up with a Stark tablet and access to the Internet relatively quickly.

“You need something to keep you occupied, and I’ve got work to get back to. I’d advise against Googling yourself, though… You might not like what you find. JARVIS, aka the invisible voice in the ceiling, can help you use this,” Tony had told Loki as he’d handed over the tablet. “Here’s how you turn it on, and the device will walk you through creating an account.”

“Uh… thank you,” Loki said, still looking confused.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get the hang of it,” Tony assured him. “Hopefully you’ll have it all figured out by the time Thor comes back.” By ‘I hope to be back soon’, Tony wasn’t sure if he meant hours, days, or some longer timeframe, but he figured that they should be prepared for anything. And just in case this Loki was anything like the old Loki, Tony figured he should try to keep him occupied while they waited. Bored Loki might be destructive Loki, although he seemed pretty relaxed right now, so who could really say? Better to err on the side of caution.

On the way back to the lab, he texted Pepper, _Loki’s awake. Thor has already been by. Some complications though._

She texted back almost immediately. _What kind of complications?_

_Are you free?_ Tony texted back.

_No… I’m in a meeting_ _☹_ was Pepper’s response.

_Call me later. I’ll fill you in then._

Tony still wasn’t sure that going back to his lab was a wise decision, but he justified it by telling himself that JARVIS would handle any problems. Besides, if his theory had been correct, Loki probably wasn’t going to orchestrate an attack on New York from his hospital bed.

Hopefully.

Tony was committed to keeping Loki’s presence on the down low: need to know basis only. Nobody in the Avengers particularly liked him; Tony had been chosen as his guardian because Thor figured that, out of everyone, he’d be the most impartial and fair when it came to making decisions about Loki’s wellbeing. The fact that he was rich certainly didn’t hurt.

It made sense, though - Clint still hated Loki with a passion, and Natasha was too close to the archer to be trustworthy with a task like this. Tony was pretty sure the two kept no secrets from each other. Bruce had dealt with a lot of invasion-related trauma as the Other Guy, and the Hulk made no secret of the fact that he wanted to smash Loki into the ground some more... so he was out. Steve, well, to be quite frank he was too close to SHIELD, and Tony knew they would likely be chomping at the bit to get a compliant alien test subject into their hands if they knew Loki was on Earth in his weakened state. Even if Steve didn’t agree with the principle of that, he was still an extremely upstanding guy and he’d probably want Loki to atone for his crimes, even though really, if you thought about it, he had already.

Tony really had been the only option. It didn’t mean that he was happy about it, but Thor seemed so genuine when he said his brother had changed and needed a place to stay to recover, and Tony didn’t want to turn down someone in need when he really had no reason not to say yes. Well, okay - he had plenty of reasons to refuse. He just didn’t want to hurt Thor’s feelings, and it sounded like Loki had a pretty scary punishment awaiting him on Asgard, one that his brother thought was much worse than erasing a bunch of his memories. Tony was not sure how he felt about the ethical implications of torture, especially after Afghanistan, so he’d figured it was worth a shot.

A few hours later, Tony’s phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID. Pepper Potts.

“Finally out of that meeting?” he greeted her when she picked up.

She sighed. “Honestly, the government is being stupid about the Stark line of computers again. I’ve been in meetings with lawyers and government officials all day.”

“Sounds rough,” Tony said.

“Extremely,” she agreed. “Anyway, you said that Loki’s awake?”

“Ye-ep,” Tony said. “There’s one slight complication, though - you know how he was only supposed to forget like 5 years or so? Yeah, all his memories got deleted.”

“All of them?” Pepper sounded surprised.

“Yeah, I almost couldn’t believe it myself, but he didn’t even recognize Thor.” Tony checked the time; he suddenly realized that it’d be good to make sure Loki ate tonight, and probably soon. He hadn’t even thought of that.

“Where is Thor now?” Pepper asked.

“He’s off to Asgard to try to figure out what happened. He said he should be back soon, but I’m not exactly sure what that means by his timeline,” Tony said. “For now, I’ve got Loki set up with a Stark tablet. I warned him not to Google himself, in case you’re wondering. JARVIS would’ve told me if he did, at least I hope so, right buddy?”

“Loki Laufeyson has not searched his name on Google,” JARVIS confirmed.

“Which, I just realized, doesn’t mean he didn’t do it on Bing or something. But Bing sucks anyway, so we’re probably safe there,” Tony said.

“Well, I’ve got to get to a dinner meeting; I just wanted to check in,” Pepper said. “I’ll talk to you later, Tony.”

“Later, Potts,” Tony said casually.

He could hear the smile in her voice as she said, “Love you.”

“Love you too.” And with that, he hung up. He was in the process of putting his phone down and picking up a screwdriver when he remembered Loki. Right, he had been planning to get him dinner… Probably a good idea to get on that.

“Hey J, has Loki eaten yet?” Tony asked as he headed to the kitchen.

“The nurses gave him a small portion shortly after you left, but they did not want to give him too much right away. Upon inspection of his chart, it would be advisable to bring him something small,” JARVIS reported.

“Thanks, J. Hmm, something small…” Tony glanced around the kitchen. “I have no idea what he likes to eat… Any ideas?”

“Might I suggest something simple like an apple? High in nutritious value, yet fairly sweet. Be sure to cut it up before serving,” JARVIS suggested.

“Now there’s an idea. One apple, coming right up,” Tony said, grabbing a McIntosh from the fruit bowl and coring it. He cut it up and dumped the pieces into a bowl.

Upon arrival at Loki’s room, everything looked the same as when he had left.

“Doesn’t seem like you planned any world invasions while I was gone,” Tony joked by way of greeting. Loki’s gaze was confused, and then Tony realized what he’d said. “Right… bad joke. I’ll explain later. Sorry,” he apologized. “I, um, brought you some fruit, in case you were hungry.” He offered the bowl to Loki, who took it.

“I ate earlier, but I could eat again. Thanks,” Loki added, taking a piece of the apple and chewing it thoughtfully. “I like this. What is it?”

“Wow, they really did a number on you. That’s an apple, a fairly common fruit here on Earth,” Tony said. “Well, maybe they don’t have them on Asgard, which might explain why you don’t know.”

Loki shrugged. “It matters not. It does taste good, though.”

“So, uh…” Tony fidgeted awkwardly, realizing he had no idea what to say. “What have you been up to the last few hours?”

“Well, JARVIS here showed me how to use the tablet and the Internet,” Loki said, gesturing towards the ceiling. Tony held in a chuckle. The initial confusion surrounding how to address JARVIS was not uncommon. “So I have been learning some of your Earth customs, as well as general information.”

“Learn anything interesting?” Tony asked, curious.

“Well, I learned that you are one of the richest men on the planet, and that you own this entire building, which houses the arc reactor” --okay, maybe that was something Tony could’ve done without Loki knowing-- “and ten floors of R&D, as well as an entire medical facility,” Loki said. “And all that is just off the top of my head.”

“Well, I guess it’s good that you’re learning. When Thor gets back, hopefully I can tell you more about yourself… former self?” Tony shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. We should probably get you up and about at some point too, now that you’re awake. There’s no point in keeping you here in this room. How are you feeling?”

“I’m feeling alright, although still a little weak,” Loki said. “The nurses came in earlier and they told me that the doctor would be looking me over tomorrow to see how I’m recovering.”

“Right, that’s good information, I’ll make a mental note of that,” Tony said. “For now… why don’t I show you video games?”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thor shows up with the healer! Things start to get interesting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my God, I am SO SORRY that I haven't updated this in forever!!! I just struggled so much with this chapter, not to mention I switched shifts at work, had to buy a new car, had a vacation as well... I've been pretty busy, but I've started to read more lately so I've been like, well, I clearly have time, right? Anyways... here it is!
> 
> I also had an old friend drive 4 hours to come see me for the last few days, and he asked me if I was still writing fanfic, and if I was writing slash fic, so I mentioned this fanfic that I'm writing that's not slash, but that I have other slash works... Anyway, I felt like that was a kind of not-so-subtle reminder from the universe. "Update your fic!!!" Lol.

An hour later, Tony had an excessively large 4K TV and a Nintendo Wii set up in Loki’s room.

“I don’t know how well this is going to go, but since JARVIS told me that you picked up on using the tablet fairly quickly, I’m hoping this will pan out as I expect,” Tony explained, setting up the controllers and handing one to Loki.

“And what exactly do you expect?” Loki asked.

“You know, you being a genius, becoming the world’s best player instantly,” Tony deadpanned. “Okay, but actually, that is pretty close to what I’m hoping will happen, minus the whole ‘world’s best player’ part. I guess we’ll find out in a minute.” He finished tweaking the graphics settings and started up the game: _Mario Kart_.

Loki picked up on the controls of the game fairly quickly; however, he was struggling slightly with remembering what power-ups and items did what, which was fair considering he literally had amnesia about his old life and hadn’t been awake that long.

Tony helped him out a bit, and by the time Loki announced he was too tired to play any longer, the (former?) demigod had beaten him five times in a row. Tony was a little bit butthurt, but he also had to admit that he was quite impressed. Loki’s motor skills and reaction time were impeccable considering he’d been in a coma for the last two months. He did have demigod DNA, though, so maybe that had something to do with it. Since Asgard had intended for him to wake up with only five years of memories lost, they had very likely done something to ensure that he’d wake up in relatively good condition. Tony wasn’t sure how it all worked, although secretly he thought a lot of it was just really, really advanced science, not necessarily magic. Magic was bullshit.

-*-

It took Thor a few weeks to return. When he did, he had someone with him: a tall, light-haired woman in a long white dress.

“Tony Stark, meet Eir, head healer of the palace. Eir, Tony Stark,” Thor introduced them.

“So you are Loki’s current guardian,” said Eir, clearly giving Tony the once-over.

“Er… yeah. I guess so,” Tony said. _Guardian._ Huh.

“Eir was the lead of Loki’s procedure,” Thor explained. “She managed everything that was going on.”

“I see,” Tony said. “So, will Loki be able to get his memories back?”

“That depends on the state of the memory crystal,” Eir said seriously. “I haven’t been able to check yet, because the crystal can only be checked in the presence of the person whose memories it holds.”

“Huh, why’s that?” Now that was interesting.

“I’m not entirely sure, but I believe it’s so that memories cannot be erased or tampered without the knowledge of the owner,” Eir told him. “Those memories are property of the one from whom they originally came, whether they are allowed to have them or not. They essentially contain part of the soul, which is very much intertwined with the person’s experiences.”

“I don’t really believe in all that magic and soul stuff, but I’ll take your word for it,” Tony said. “Anyway, let’s go to Loki’s room and check out that crystal!”

“Lead the way, Tony,” Thor said, and Tony headed in the direction of Loki’s room. When they got there, he knocked on the door, then opened it to find Loki reading something on his tablet. He looked up curiously when they arrived.

“Hey, Loki,” Tony greeted him. “I brought you the healer we mentioned. This is Eir,” he said, gesturing to her as she stepped into the room.

“Loki,” she said, nodding at him. “I know you well.”

“Hello, Eir,” he responded. “Nice to meet you. Do you think my memories can be retrieved?”

“Well, that is what I’m here to find out. I must warn you though, even if your memories are intact it does not mean you can get them back today. You’d have to be brought back to Asgard for a full investigation into what happened, as well as to place your memories back inside of you.”

“That’s fine,” Loki said softly.

“Well, since you have agreed to the terms, we should not wait any longer,” she said, reaching into her satchel for a small blue drawstring bag. Everyone was staring as Eir slowly pulled the crystal out of the bag. It looked like any kid’s crystal-growing science project, except for one thing…

Tony stared at the crystal, trying to figure it out, then suddenly it hit him. “That… doesn’t look very alive, unless… dull grey is a normal life colour for crystals?”

“No… It’s not,” the healer said slowly.

“Uh… so what does that mean?” he asked, although he had a sinking feeling that he already knew.

“Quite simply, it means that the memories are gone,” she said faintly, as if she was shocked.

“And of Loki’s former self?” Thor asked, sounding apprehensive.

“To put it in a harsh way—the man you knew as your brother is dead,” she said bluntly.

Everyone was watching Thor as the seconds ticked by. Finally, he knelt down next to Loki’s bed and wrapped his arms around him. Tears were pooling in his blue eyes.

“Loki,” Thor sobbed into his shoulder as he hugged him tightly. “I know you don’t remember me, but… I love you. I will _always_ love you. You are my brother. Nothing can change that.”

Loki glanced at Tony, who nodded slightly, trying to encourage him silently to speak. “I… I don’t know if I can feel the same, not yet. But I can try,” he said carefully, with none of the fire and rage of the old Loki. That Loki had truly hated his brother. Would they have been able to mend that relationship, or was it better to start from scratch? Tony didn’t know, but he didn’t envy the positions of the two brothers.

Thor pulled his face out of Loki’s shoulder to smile tearfully at him. “Thank you, brother,” he said. “I believe we can get through anything together.”

Loki just nodded. “I will try,” he reiterated.

“Okay, so…” Tony turned to Eir. “Hate to break up the moment here, but I think it’s important to know what comes next. Is Loki going to remain on Earth? How will we move forward with this new knowledge?”

“That is up to those who sentenced Loki,” Eir said, looking to Thor. Thor looked somber and deep in thought. When he finally spoke, he sounded… almost resigned.

“I will go back and speak with my father,” he said. “To be honest, I don’t believe this will change much. Midgard remains the best place for him currently, and I believe he should stay, but of course the final word will be up to my father. I do think, however, he will agree with me,” he added.

“Well, that’s good. I guess in the meantime, Loki and I will just wait and see what happens,” Tony decided.

“I don’t see much alternative,” Loki spoke up, smiling wryly.

“No… neither do I,” Tony agreed.

“Well, Eir,” Thor declared, “let us go back to Asgard. Tony Stark, Loki – I will try not to keep you waiting too long.”

“All right, Thor. Thanks.” Tony stood up and watched them leave the room. When they were gone, he sat down on the bed next to Loki. “Well, that went well,” he commented.

Loki just nodded. “Yeah,” he said quietly. “It’s a lot to take in.”

“I bet. Do you want some time alone?” Tony asked. “I mean, I can also stay, it doesn’t really matter to me; it’s up to you, but—”

Loki chuckled lightly. “It’s alright, Tony. I just… Is there somewhere else we could go?”

Tony considered it for a moment. Was it a good idea to invite Loki up to his apartment…? Ah, hell; he’d made enough terrible decisions as of late, what was one more? “Sure,” he said. “My penthouse. Let me just check that it’s okay with the nurses.”

As he left the room, he started to seriously wonder just what the hell he had gotten himself into.


End file.
